A man in Pennsylvania is being treated for SARS after coming in contact with known cases while on a trip to Toronto and the United States has added the city to the list of worldwide destinations where the disease is spreading in the community.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the man, being treated at the Muhlenberg Lehigh Valley Hospital in Bethlehem, Pa., tested positive for antibodies to the coronavirus, the suspected cause of SARS.
Colin D'Cunha, chief medical officer of health for Ontario, suggested yesterday that the man had been in contact with members of the Bukas-Loob Sa Diyos religious group who are now in quarantine.
Around April 7, about a week after his trip to Toronto, the man went to the hospital complaining of breathing problems, but was sent home.
He returned to the emergency room on Monday, April 14, with symptoms including a fever, cough and respiratory distress. "He indicated he thought he'd been in touch with a, or more than one, probable case [in Toronto] ... and based on his whereabouts [in the city]," he was a suspected case of SARS, said Brian Downs, spokesman for the hospital.
The man was whisked into isolation but not before coming into close contact with five hospital staff who have since been quarantined. The Pennsylvania Department of Health sent them home for 10 days.
There are six suspected or probable cases of SARS in Pennsylvania and 225 across the United States.
"The patient did not travel to mainland China, Hong Kong, Hanoi, Vietnam, or Singapore within 10 days of the onset of symptoms as the case definition of SARS requires. However, he was travelling in Toronto, Canada," the hospital reported initially. On Sunday, the CDC added Toronto to the list of "areas with documented or suspected community transmission of SARS."
In addition, Toronto passengers landing in the United States will soon be presented with information cards on SARS, asking them to monitor their health for 10 days.
The Philadelphia Daily News wrote this week that "for many people in the United States, if you mention Canada's largest city, the first thing that comes to mind now is SARS."
Meanwhile, in Taiwan, where 28 probable cases have been reported, Premier Yu Shyi-kun announced yesterday that outbound passengers will receive temperature checks in an official measure to prevent the country from becoming a source of contagion.
The measure will begin tomorrow and anyone who refuses will be fined up to 300,000 Taiwan dollars (about $12,500).
And three more people may have SARS in India, the Health Minister of Maharashtra said yesterday. The country confirmed its first case only last week.
Stanley D'Souza, the second confirmed case, went to the western Indian city of Pune in Maharashtra from Jakarta three weeks ago. His flight stopped in Singapore and let off another person showing symptoms of SARS. Mr. D'Souza's mother and sister are also in hospital, with fevers and coughs. The sister was rushed to hospital after her wedding ceremony, and the groom and about two dozen guests have been quarantined.
The mother and sister appear to be recovering, a health official said.
Singapore reported six new cases yesterday, including three grandchildren of a previously confirmed SARS patient who himself caught the disease at a vegetable market. The children are 4, 8 and 9, and the cases raised fears that the disease is spreading into the general community.
Another of the new cases is a 45-year-old worker from the wholesale vegetable market. To contain the spread, the government has shut the market, the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre, for 10 days and announced plans to quarantine its 2,400 workers. The market supplies 70 per cent of Singapore's vegetables.
North Korea also stepped up measures to fight the virus yesterday. The country has not reported any SARS cases, but it borders on China, which has been badly hit.
Seven more deaths were reported yesterday in mainland China, and six in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's Education Secretary, Arthur Li, said schools that have been shut since March 29 would begin reopening today.
About 3,900 people have now been infected by SARS around the world. The 13 new deaths brought the global toll to at least 217, according to the World Health Organization.
With reports from Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Reuters
